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(No Model'.) I. i H. M. GROVBRL, POTATO BIGGER. No. 572,511. PatentedDec. 1, 1896.

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I 2 Sheets-Sheet 2. H. M. GROVER. v

POTATO BIGGER. v Patented Dec. 1, 1896.

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-35 Ewheels, andar'e also provided with angular UNITED STATES PATENTOFFICE.-

;11 r GROVER, or ANOKAQMINNESOTAQASSIGNOR or oNenALr ro To all whom itmay concern.-

z'en oflthe United w as Improvements in hereby declare the followingtobe a full, clear,

JOHN 1-1. NILES, or SAME rLAcE;

OTATO- srncrmcn rron forming Application filed March 21,

Be it known that LHENRY M. GROVER, a citi- States, residing at Anoka, inthe countyof Anoka and State of Minnesota, have invented certain "newand useful Potato-Diggers; and I do and exact'description of theinvention, suchas will enable others skilled in the :art to whichitappertains to make and use the same.

My invention has for its object to provide an improved potato-digger;and the inven tion consists in the novel features of construction whichwill be hereinafter described, andbedefined in the-claims:

The accompanying drawings illustrate the I invention, wherein, likeletters referring to away;

likeparts'- e V I a Figure 1 is aplan view of the machine with somepartsbroken away. .Fig, 2 is a longir tudinal vertical section of the sameapproximately on the lines at of Fig; 1, with some parts shown inelevation'and others broken and Fig. 3 is a detail of the righthandlever for raising and lowering the scoopshovel and shifting the lowermember of the double carrier elevator for throwing the driven parts inand out of 'gear with some parts broken away.

a represents-the main frame of'the machine,

. and is-provided with bearings a'-, -through which passes the axle I),having loosely mount- "edthereonthe supporting-wheels b. The

' supporting-wheels b are removably wheels in any sultable way whichwill ren- 4o 'der the same rigid. therewith.

e are provided with driving-g'ears b formed integral with the said orpointed traction shoes or claws b, which secured to the rims of the Tothe frame timbers a are fixed sidings 0?,

which are connected by a. top cross-deck or cover a a by an underneathcross-plate a.

and a boxbody'a and by an end cross-plate or box head a l ceptacle whichreceives and carries the potatoes, aswill subsequently be seen, untilthey aredroppedon the ground. The said hinged plate or box-gated" isheld in its closed po- "A hinged plate a cooperates .with the parts a tocomplete the box or resition a button a 'as shown-,bm in pracpart 6rLetters Patent No. 572,,5 1, dated December 1, 189 6.

1895; Serial'No. aimed (NomodeL) I tice would be provided withconnections (not shown) under the control of the driver seated ontheangular top deck a (L The sidingterials underthe act-ion of theelevator, as

will more fully later appear; and the said rear end cross-plate (t guardat which projects inward to the proper point for cooperationwith theelevator mem-v bers to separate thevines and potatoes-at the pointof-their delivery,

- In 'theisidings a? is mounted carrier-shaft e with sprockets c ,and inbearings 0 dependingfrom theframe timbers Ct or the said sidings a ismounted carrier-shaft with sprockets c On-thesaid sprockets c and 0carried by the saidrespective shafts c and c, are mounted chains 2 withteeth 0'',

which shafts, sprockets, and toothed chains constitute and operate theupper endless carrier, which cooperates with the lower endlesscarrier,aswill prese'ntly'be noted, to form the elevator. r

- On the shaft 0' are pivotedhangevarmsd,

of does not is provided with a dividingin the" lower ends of-which aremounted a shaft (1', having sprockets (1 Toeach of the bearings c ispivoted a three-armed casting f f To thearm' f of this casting isattacheda hand-lever f In the arms f of the said angular castings ismounted a shaft d having sprockets d. On the sprockets d and d carriedby the, shafts d and dfi respectively-,'are mounted chains (1 havingfixed thereto buckets d whichparts cooperate to form and operate anendless carrier, constituting the lower carrier of the elevator.

and d are mounted sleeves the said shafts 01' (1 which are connected byrods cl, suitably spaced from each other for forming an open deck forthe said carrier (1 d.

The lower-carrier shaft (1 extends outward beyond its hearings in thelever-arms f and -is provided with pinions 47?, which may beporting-wheels bto the pinions d and the shaft d will drive, through theconnections hitherto named, the-two cooperating endless carriers o and(1 so that vtheir. opposing'sur faces or faces will both run in the samedirection and cooperate in the elevating action. In this connection itmay be further noted that the teeth 0 on the upper carrier 0 and thebuckets d on the lower carrier (1 are so related that the said teeth 0will work be tween the buckets 03 throughout the cooper:

, "ating portion of their travel.

To the carrier-shaft d are pi voted the upper arms of the side bars g ofthe unearthing scoop-shovelg g. y The said side barsg are also connectedby links 9 to theforward arms f of the lever-castings fff hithertonoted. At their forward ends the side bars g are provided with colters gand between the said,

side bars g, at their forward ends, is removably secured the shovel g.bars g of the scoop, directly back of the shovel g, is mounted atrundle-wheel g, the shaft of which wheel is provided with sprockets 9connected by chains g 'with sprockets gion the shaft d The said parts gg g v the forward arms f of the lever-castings,

impart to said trundlewheel motion in the same direction as the travelof the carrier d In virtue of the pivotal connection of the scoop-shovelg. g to the carrier-shaft d and the connections through the links 9 withwhich are under the control of the hand-levers f it is obvious that bythe said levers f the scoop-shovel g g and all the parts carried therebymay be raised and lowered into or out of their working position by thesame movement which swings the lower carrier of the elevator forward orbackward, so as to throw the p'iuions d into or out of gear with r thedrivers bion the supporting-wheels b. The levers f 3 are of suchconstruction and so set as to bear against loclosegments f and springinto engagement with either one of two lock-notches f therein forholding the said levers in either one of their two-extreme positions, asmay be required for holding the working parts intheir idle and ativepositions, respectively.

The tongue-base or draft attachment h. h

h is pivoted to a cross-rod h, secured to the in their operforwardportions of the frame-timbers a. The

said tongue-base is provided with a rearward extension h, whichunderreachesacross-bar hi, fixed to the top of the frame-timbers a. Thesaid cross-bar h is provided, with a fixed In the said side I nut -h inwhich works a hand-screw b extending through the part h of the tongue,and provided, as shown, with a pinned or fast collar h and a Washer 71underneath the tongue part h. the outer endlof the tongue may beadjusted in respect to the main frame by manipul-ating the-hand-screw hUnder the distribution of the-weight from the forward endof the mainframe on the tongue and under the strain on the shovel when in workingposition the tendency will be to pull-down the lower end of thetongue onthe hand-screw 72-.

Hence by raising or lowering the said hand- WVith this constructionscrew h the anglevof the tongue to the main framemay be fixed asdesired. The frametimbers a are shown as connected directly behind thecross-bare by afoot-board a; The driver is supposed to occupy the topsectiona of the deck asa seat, with his feet 'on the the hand-levers fand the hand-screw h t Having regard to the operation the action Junearththe potatoes, and the traction claws or shoes 6 also extendinginto the ground under the weight of the machine toprevent''crossboard-a, so as to be within reach of Loc slippage of the wheelsunder the driving strain required therefrom torun the elevator-carriersand the trundle-wheel. Supposing the parts to be thus set, then underthe forward motion of the machine the scoop-shovel will unearth thepotatoes and deliver the same, to-

gether with thevines and more or less of the I earth, to thetrundle-wheel. The trundleshovel and, separating out a. large part ofthe earth, will deliver the potatoes tothe buckets IIC wheel willreceive these materials from the d of the lower carrier d and will throwthe vines and other foreign materials between the two carriers of theelevator.

Under the f cooperating action of the elevator-carriers the vines willbe engaged by the teeth 0 of the upper carrier '0 and be thrown out tothe rear of the machine over the guard a and the potatoes will becarried upward by the b'nckets'd of the'lower carrier at and deliveredfrom the said buckets at their turn over the upper sprockets d into themouth of the box or receptacle a (2- When the box is loaded to itscapacity or any desired extent, the door or gate a will be lowered andthe potatoesemptied into a pile on the ground or into any receptacledesired. When it"i's desired to turn the machine or throw the same intoan idle position, the levers f are drawn backward by the driver, which,as hitherto noted,

will swing the lower carrier forward, so as to throw thepinions d out ofgear with the drivers 11 and will raise the scoop-shovel into I thefull-lineposition shown inFig. 3,'so that the'shovel or" blade 9 willstand above the leveloftheground.

From the foregoing description it is obvious that mytmachine is ofcomparatively? simple and cheap construction. By actual experience Ihave demonstrated the efficiency of the machine for the purposes hadinview. 1o It will beunderstood that changes might bemade in the detailsof constructi0n -with-' out departing fromthe spirit of my invention. AIn respect to the action it should beffurther noted. that whilesubject'to the elevating-car 15 riers the chunks of dirt WilLbe brokenup and to a large extent dropped out in the progress up the elevator, orat the turn of-the lower carrier at the upper or delivery end of thesame;- v

What I claim,"and desire to secure by Letters Patent of the UnitedStates, is as follows:

5 1.- In a potato-digger, the combination with supportingtand drivingwheels, of anendless elevator having a pair of carrie'r-sh'aiftsspacedapart by a swingingframepneof whiohshafts is provided with a drivengear-iwheel thatv re ceives motion from said driving-wheel andparallelpivoted hangers, supporting said carrier-frame for permittingthe driven gearwheel carried thereby to be swung intoand out of gearwith said driving-wheels, substantiallyras described.

2. The combination with the supporting and driving wheels b b of theelevator having the carrier shaft (2 with pinjons d engageable with thedriving-gears, the scoop-shovel g g pivoted to said shaft cl g'thepivotedhanger d supportingthe shaft d, the sprockets d and 40 d on saidshafts'di-and (1 the carrier cP-with bucliets cl mounted on saidsprockets,- the pivoted castings ff f with hand-lever f, in the. arms fof which is mounted the shaft d and the other arms f of which areconnected by the links 9 to'said scoop g g substantially as described.

In testiniony wh'creor I aflix my signature in presence of twowitnesses.

HENRY M. GROVER. 'Witnesses:

JAs. F. WiLLIAMsoN,

:L II. NILEs.

